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Friday, June 23, 2006

Muslim Football Figures Muslim Footballers

THIS SECTION HAS BEEN ENHANCED DUE TO MISUNDERSTANDINGSAs I heard many Muslims are actually involved in football, I browsed around to look for more Muslims in football. The findings were quite shocking. Note that the list excluded known Muslim footballers like Ali Daie (Iran) and Ahmed Hossam Mido (known by name and nationality)Source: VariousGai Yigaal Assulin - Young exciting midfielder. Formerly of Barcelona FC and Manchester City. He is indeed an Israeli national but his father is Libyan.Nicloas "Bilal" Anelka - French striker. Once called Le Sulk, now a very settled player. Formerly of Fenerbahce, Turkey and Chelsea. Pics of him visiting a Manchester mosque is easily available.Zinedine Yazid Zidane - A non-practiced Muslim. Three-time FIFA World Player of the Year.Bruno Metsu - Former Senegalese National Team Coach. Converted when he was at Senegal. Now coach of Al-Ittihad.Franck Ribery - Converted in 2002. Read the Du'a before taking a free kick against Korea recently. Married to long time Moroccan girlfriend.Phillipe Troussier - former famous French player. Famously coached Japanese National Team. Lives in Morocco. Changes his name to Omar. Wife Dominique now Amina. Adopted 2 local Moroccan children.George Weah - Liberian football great. Unsuccesful candidate for 2005 Liberian presidency. Born a Muslim. Went to Muslim children school. Converted to Christianity in the name of his grandmother who raised him. Later reconverted to follow the faith of his Grandmother.Robin van Persie - Holland super striker. Married a Morroccan but never talk about his religious position in public. Denied he is a Muslim as he was brought up liberal.Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Has tatoos on both arms but Papa Sefik is a Bosnian-Muslim immigrant and his Mom is of Catholic Croat. Swedish star striker but dubbed 'overrated' by Martin O'neill. However, some reports has said that he is following his mother's religious belief.Kolo, Yaya and Ibrahim Toure - Ivorian footballers. Devout muslims.Rami Shaaban - Former Arsenal Swedish keeper who is of Egyptian descent. Mom is English.Frederick Kanoute - Malian striker. No wonder he celebrates by reciting the du'a after scoring goals. Bought a mosque in Seville. Devoted Muslim.

Mehmet Scholl - German veteran Bayern Munich star midfielder who was denied call-up to the 2006 Fifa World Cup Germany National Team although being recommended by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge after coming back superbly from a long-standing injury. Born Muslim however as his parents' divorce when he was young, he turned aethist and now Buddhist.Khalid Boulahrouz - Dutch national defender. Born in Nederlands but of Moroccan descent. Nicknamed Khalid der Kannibale (The Cannibal because of his ability to 'eat up' oppositions). Trying to emulate Mohammed Allach (Muslim-Dutch football great).Armand Traore - Arsenal young left full back was seen many times praying before the start of the game.Nacer Barazite - another Arsenal rising Dutch star of Moroccan descent. Pays tribute to Allah each time he scores a goal.

Pascal Cygan - clarifications needed!

Lassana and Mahamadou Diarra - Real Madrid midfield gems.

Christian Negouai - It is so ironic that his first name is Christian but he is a practising Muslim, was forced to break his fast during ramadhan for drug test by the FA.

Karim Benzema - Real Madrid striker. Struggling to find his form.

Samir Nasri - Manchester City cheeky elusive winger. Spotted reciting the du'a every time before the game.

Mamadou Sakho - PSG youngest ever captain. Highly rated center back.

Nuri Sahin - Dortmund's creative midfielder. Turkish.

Nordin Amrabat - PSV right midfielder.

Ismail Aissati - Ajax young midfielder.

Hatem Ben Arfa - Newcastle exciting winger.

Zesh Rehman - Pakistani British

Bacary Sagna - Arsenal

Ibrahima Sonko - cousins with Bakari

Sulleyman Ali Muntari

Didier Domi - friends of Kanoute and Anelka

Phillipe Christanval - according to Thierry Henry in an interview with Aljazeera

Peter Luccin - as above

Eric Abidal - as above

Mesut Ozil - Turkish creative midfielder.

Solomon Kalou - Chelsea forward.

Nathan Ellington - former WBA and Watford striker.

Lee Hughes - converted to Islam during his prison sentence after he was found guilty dor knocking down a boy to his death in a car accident.

Joleon Lescott is a Christian, so too is Jermanin defoe and Owen Hargreaves. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is not a muslim by the way. Robin Van Persie is not either, he's just married to one - not yet converted to one.

Owen Hargreves, defoe, henry are defo not muslims. However rumours say that van persie converted to islam before he married a morrocan. He was taught islam by his friend and caretaker in his school. Armand Traore (Arsenal youngster), hes been seen doing the prayer with both hands together before games, and apparently Bakary sagna is muslim too. There are a lot of Muslim footballers mostly of african decent. Oh and Zizou has said that he is a non-practising Muslim. The three toure bro's are practising. Match commentary in an arsenal game had mentioned that Kolo Toure likes to bring his prayer mats to training sessions.

i think eveyvone are muslims and it have more muslim soccer popular players who there are muslims th best players of soccer where muslims like pele , zidane , ibrahimovic , henry , van persie and a lot off others byeee

Half or more than half of current French national team is Muslim! Ribery, Anelka, Benzama, Ben-arfa, all the Diarras, Abidal. Anyway stop referring Zidane as a muslim. His family converted 2 Christianity when he was an infant.

ZLATAN is a Muslim. I am 100% sure that until the age of 18 he was. as I have known him since the age of 10. His parents are from Bosnia and Croatia. He is like many other muslims who are not devout and do whatevere they want

Many of you guys say that a few of the fotballers are not muslims, well let me tell you something if you are not 100% dont assume! So until your 100% dont judge any body in regards to their beliefs. What you should go by are the true facts which can be statements made by the individuals themselves, witness of them praying dua etc. My point is that its wrong to assume about someone's religion as it is something very personal. You missed out on Franck Bilal Ribery buddy. I know this first of all as he married a muslim lady from a algerian descent and at a later stage he converted. If you watch him closely before he plays football match you will most likely see praying dua, which is something really great to see.

Mehmet Scholl is Buddhist check out Wikipedia ,Zlatan is not a muslim, father is.Djibril Ciss'e born a muslim became a Christian.Emmanuel Ebou'e a Christian,saw him do the CROSS SIGN so many times before a game.

What About Samir Nasri He is also A muslim Player and it is gr8 to see so many muslim players in football and have big names Like Ribery And Nasri INSHALLAH MUSLIMS WILL BE EVERYWHERE AND WE ARE THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

zlatan,hargreaves,van persie are not i'm sure...you forgot a lot of players :)algerian players like:karim ziani ( o.marseille, france)antar yahia (bochum,germany)madjid bougherra (rangers, scotland)nadir belhadj (porsmouth, Uk)yebda(benefica lisbonne, portugal)megheni( lazio de roma, italy)and many others...the most important that they are proud of their roots not that they are muslims or not...for exemple zidane doesnt practice but he is prood to be from algeria and he visits algeria a lot and he helps algeria alot ;) just to add hatem ben harfa is tunisian and he plays in O.marseille (france)

Edin dzeko from wolsburg is bosnian muslim vedad ibisevic and sejad salihovic are muslims and diarra from real madrid he fasten all ramadan and played games during ramadan all 30 days that is very nice from him and allah helpd him

frank ribbery is a very good muslim.anelka was okay but recently he played a commercial has very non islam figures in it.zidane is not even talk abouit it.living with dancer girlfrend..anyway Allah knows the best and help us all...

countries like egypt, turkey, algeria and many other islamic states would have a majority of muslim players. and alot of North african teams have a good mixture of muslim and not muslim. France is predicted to be a muslim state by 2025... this can be seen in their football nationalities and roots.

I am a Muslim. However, I respect all the football players, regardless of religion. Because God has ordered us to respect all other religions, and certainly I am proud to any player belonging to the same religious and possession of fame and admiration of the world and this is perfectly normal for any human being. I hope that the whole world looks to the Muslims do not look good Itbao media that seek to distort the image of Islam because Islam is a religion of peace not the Qur'an urges us never to terrorism but who has vowed to faulting in the human right to punish God. On the other hand I hope that the world can live in peace and not of intolerance to religion because it is a relationship between man and God As called the Koran. Apologized to the stretching, but I wanted to clarify some points only, and Peace be upon you

zlatan is moslem, i've read an indonesian soccer tabloid interview with him, when his still 18th, and newcomer in ajax.he says holy qoran is the source of his spirit, his father gave him name zlatan mean he become sulthan the conquest.u may trace him from ajax

abou diaby - the gunnersEddie Newton - (Muslim name Bilal) ex Chelsea Midfieldermost of them are african..they are great.. like Frédéric Kanouté has splashed out more than US$700,000 to buy his own Masjid in Spain. great rite?Johan Djorou from arsenal also a muslim..proud to be a Muslim..alhamdulillah..

"As well as charity, the pair dispense faith and hope to all their fellow Ivory Coast citizens with their displays for club and country. Toure, a devout Muslim who prays every day, says: "The only thing we can do for the country as football players is to play very well every game."

ok what is the point of all this.islam excists well over 1431 years.is this something new to you all,that every 5th person on this planet is muslim and therefore many pro athletes just might be one of them.this is sports, so please let us keep it clean from dirty religious politics that suround us all over the world.are you going to be a fan of a pro athlete based on his abilities on the feeld or his private life(confession).did they become pros because of their effort or cofession???????

i don't think everyone of these european players coukd say that they are muslims. i'm from india,there are lot people of people in india as mislims. but now a days only a small percentage is only practising real islam. here, most of the muslims are now drinking. from a large muslim community,the situation is like. now a days there are lots of muslim players in europe, bt only a smal people like kanoute , toure and diarra etc are only practising with respect. i,m saying respect the muslim players by their good belief nt by name. zidane,benz,sissoko,kaboul etc. are good players nt good muslim.

We r no 1 to tell about some 1 whether he is a practising muslim or not .... remember that islam is between him and god ..... and i can say myself as a non practising muslim if i try to pray 5 times but can do 4 tyms

ok good list. for ibrahimovic I think he is muslim by birth because of his father but I doubt that he practices at all also when you mention some player from muslim country you have to be sure that he is practicing or not for instance many turkish players are not practicing muslims they were just born that way also many bosnian players in that way too.

I am not really sure for Zlatan Ibrahimovic,even if his father was muslim,i doubt he had turned to Islam, I would say an atheist. Did u know that RvP was convicted for raping in 2008 i think? I think many of those on list are muslims, but very few of them practice five time-day prayers or sustains of alchol or woman pleasures.I belive only for Diarra and Kanoute couz they have been seen doing praying in mosques,as for all the others,maybe they "converted" to Islam couz of popularity?

u know what?we should just be happy that their are so many muslim players.they help propagate islam,and save many non-muslim from the fire of hell.we might not know if they are practising but who are we to judge?allah is the final judge.on the day of judgement we'll find out who are the real muslims.i end of by saying 'save yourself from hell,your relegion isnt taking you anywhere'.this is the truth youll only find out that i was right on the day of reckoning,i hope all the practising true muslims carry on doing good and help propagate our beautiful relegion.Ramadaan Mubarak 2 all the muslims out there!pray 4 me! shukran

When you generalise about Bosnians, please refer and don't say that most bosnians are not practicing or they are muslim by name. Thats simply not true, just come and visit Bosnia, Sarajevo and you will se that it is not true to generalise. I'am bosnian and practicing muslim, and I know a lot devouted BOSNIAN muslims.

Why do you all speculate whether someone is 100% muslim or not , are you a 100% .. I'm not and I feel you all should support all good footballers because Allah created them all, but take inspiration from practicing ones .. I guess Mesut Ozil is practicing and exceptional player in his position .. but my best is Messi although he is not Muslim , but Allah created this Mater piece, so appreciate the one you like coz of his game n not in the name of religion coz football doesnt teach you Islam, it is just a sport to be played or enjoyed :D

I checked coz I saw Younes kaboul cross himself before the match versus Werder Bremen. Very Surprising since he is of Moroccan decent. I dount Cana is a Muslim. He might be by birth but Albania is one of the least practising Muslim country in the world. Kanu is definitely not a Muslim and neither is Eboue. RVP has denied any religious affiliation in an interview on skysports.

I hope we grow up and realize that religion is something personal and that we can learn from it not brag about it . It makes no difference to me what is your religion . what is important is that do you respect others' religions????that is the question that others should come to understand and answer .....

I think that Javier Hernandez (Chicharito) young mexican manchester united player is a muslim as before a game he bends down and suplicates at the center circle, i saw it in a away games at fulham 2010/2011 season.

Guys, I saw a tatoo on Ibrahimovic while playing for Barca. It was in arabic and it was the qalimah. I was surprised since when in Italy he used Zlatan on his jersey -- was he avoiding using Ibrahimovic?

look mate most of them are wrong henry, abidal are wrong gai assaulin is acctually jewish lee hughes is english prosedent (dont know how to spell it sorry) van persei is not hes christian (most of the dutch ones who arent of african or asian decent are acctually catholic or christian) armand toure is one ill give you that one i am a kind of expert in this kind of thing ask me any player and ill give you their religion i am a expert in most football players i know which ones are gay straight bisexual muslim jewish catholic christian sickism trust me most of them are wrong ... :(

Zlatan Ibrahimović follows mother beliefs - how is that possible ?Then he is an atheist, since both of his parents are !(However, his father has much more influential role on family's national, ethnic, cultural and, to some extent (respect for festivities at best), religious identity, which is common for old fashioned average, conservative Bosnian families)

Why you all are worried about players being muslim or not.....whatever they be none of them are not of your race your origin and their origin are different. only muslims of middle eastern countries are 100 % remaining all are converted once upon a time. If a player is not muslim wont you enjoy him playing or you enjoy only knowing that he is muslim... ridiculous. I am not muslim but i too call ALHAH many a times as I spent my childhood near a mosque. What a big deal about players' origin be a little liberal

Why you all are worried about players being muslim or not.....whatever they be none of them are not of your race your origin and their origin are different. only muslims of middle eastern countries are 100 % remaining all are converted once upon a time. If a player is not muslim wont you enjoy him playing or you enjoy only knowing that he is muslim... ridiculous. I am not muslim but i too call ALHAH many a times as I spent my childhood near a mosque. What a big deal about players' origin be a little liberal

Zlatan does NOT mean Sultan, it means gold/en in the Serbo-Croat language. Why make this kind of rubbish up?

As for the comment about Indian Muslims drinking - what a joke, in fact it is the opposite. How do I know, because I AM one. A jealous Hindutvadi ashamed of his own non-practising people projecting (psychology) onto Muslims.

Zlatan is following his father path (bosnian muslim), and you can found some confirmation posts on his twitter. He never introduced himself as croatian (like his mother is). Zlatan its common Bosnian name and Ibrahimovic is common last name for Bosnian Muslims (no christians with this last name). Since someone mentioned surnames that is explanation - Ibra is his nickname which is short of Ibrahimovic.

What's all these fusses about being a muslim or not. They being a great player have nothing to do with being a muslim. How narcissistic are your mind anyway? By being a muslim, you can be great at what you do? then how about the poor, probably they're great at being poor because they're muslim? or terrorist, well, need i say more? C'mon idiots.. stop being so self centered. And being everywhere in the world doesnt mean a thing, it only means, that it's like being a rat. Yes, you're everywhere, but, should you necessarily? LOL...

What kind of a `deadbeat fascist` comes up with the idea of highlighting which footballers are born/married to Muslims on the internet. Who cares anyway??? If this is so beneficial and important, then please show me how many times has a predominantly Islamic country ever won a World Cup? You sad, boring moron that you are.....your next article should be `Which of the above-mentioned footballers are definitely circumcised?` Should make intriguing reading .....

There is no good or bad moslem, everyone has their own way of beliving. I am a moslem but i dont practice. And btw yes it still makes me moslem. Its not important if u practice or not, what matters is what a person u r. Whats the point pf those who pray 5times a day but at tbe end of the day beat their wife and daughters and kill random ppl. Those r not moslems those r animals for me.

It doesn't matter what religion you believe in. It matters to do the things that you think is right. Like Robin Van Persie if he is a muslim what has it got to do with us at least he is doing something that he likes and nobody can stop him from for filling that.

you muslims are class act, first prixe pricks, your whole life is based on unproven text book theory, you destroy our mankind and celebrate the fact that you cut off foreskin from a mans manhood that your so called god made in the first place, arrhhh man, i wish i was not part of this fucking tragic sick tradition, its ruined my life, how can you be happy and proud knowing you have been destroyed at birth? how can you stand proud of that? because i know i cannot, is that what god wants you to do is it with what he has created, your caught up in conflict, religeon is a way to segregate the masses, to control and put fear in peoples mind of what there actions will result in in there afterlife, yet we still have no hard evidence. just enjoy your lifes, u only get one!!! stop ruining your nature too, im sure god wouldnt have created foreskin if it wasnt intended to be there... do u like having a small circumcised penis that was ruined at birth because of your parents stupid belief do u? i for sure do not and if u do, well my friend, theres no hope for u. so stop hiding behind religion and trying to "big up" your brotherhood, its not real, ive been there and done that, see the bigger picture, live for who u are, it is all shit and a twisted tail to control the masses, just like any other religion's intentions so stop the belief that anyone who is not a muslim is some sort of infidel and that u rank higher than them, in who's eyes are u higher? the answer is only in your own and your silly brotherhoods eyes, NOT GODS!!! u are the same as anyone else, stop ruining your life and your children's too, stop the sad act preaching, were all brothers and sisters in this world, if your a good person with good intentions and don't harm others, then if there is an afterlife i am sure you will get there, but what your doing right here is nonsense, absolute nonsense, seriously, who cares what religion somebody is, especially a famous footballer, do u think he cares about u? why are trying to big somebody up u do not know, if that so called muslim brother seen u broke and on the streets homeless, do u think he would care? ... think about it guys yeh!!! Peace!!

you'll know it when you died, islam is the only religion that's right. when you die, only muslim goes to heaven, i didnt expect you to believe what i am saying, but if it is the truth, then your(non-muslim) place would be in hell. so i suggest you to start finding what the real religion is, before its too late. just sayin :D

The best football players are usually those who are not religious so they can focus on the football without having imaginary friends.Religion should be for weak minded individuals with mental issues or people who cannot think independently.Footballers have great mental strength and their focus is football not an imaginary concept of heaven or hell.Live for today and be a good human being stop being selfish and prejudicing against footballers because of their beliefs.

Im a muslim but i find this article meaningless.. who cares if they are muslims or christians or jews or whatever.. they are footballers and as long as they performed in the pitch is all that matters...you malaysians always need to bring religion or politics into every single thing...

I think the point of this is that muslim people, practicing or not, are proud to have some positive role models to look up to. That's all. I don't think they are saying that being muslim makes them great players lol or that everyone should become muslim. And if you are muslim and you think that, you've got issues. Also, enough with really religious muslims critcising everyone else. You're not perfect either.

Should Jeg Hui quit his career and enter politics?

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About Me

An actuarial analyst, Azrul Abu Hassan or commonly known as Jeg Hui grew up in a Malaysian middle-class family surrounded by people of all races and religions. He realised that while it is important to keep their different identities, Malaysians should respect each other and work together like one happy family.